MouthShut.com to approach to TRAI and DoT against beam fibre

New Delhi, India, February 7, 2014: Mouthshut.com, India’s online community for consumer-review, has decided to approach the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) as Hyderabad-based ISP Beam Fibre blocked the consumer-review website, MouthShut.com.

Founder & CEO of MouthShut.com Faisal Farooqui said, “the company got in touch with the nodal officer of Beam Internet, who confirmed the fact that the consumer-review website was blocked by them. “It smells of a conspiracy and the move was completely abrupt. It is unethical, is the argument as content on MouthShut.com is neither unethical nor pornographic. With this act, not only has Beam Fibre unjustly tried to curb our business, it has also deprived the consumer in Hyderabad his right to information.”

Farooqui further said, “We are staying in a democracy and not a Jungle Raj where one can randomly blank out web sites. ISPs cannot randomly shut us out without even letting us know the reason.”

MouthShut.com has, so far, not received any notification from Beam Fibre. “We have decided to take this matter to TRAI and DoT,” he added.

Legal options are also being weighed against Beam Fibre. “If Beam does not respond and unblock MouthShut.com, we will have to take legal action against this. Our understanding is that only a team in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology can pass such an order, but, even then a written letter justifying the ban should be sent to the service provider as a protocol,” Farooqui said.